THE EPISTLES
[p. 91] THE EPISTLES
1 John 5: 9 - 13; Ephesians 3: 14 - 21; Revelation 21:9-11; Revelation 21:22
What we have seen hitherto has been the testimony of God set forth figuratively, or spoken of prophetically, then secured in the Person of Christ Himself. We have now to look at the testimony as secured in the vessel of testimony. Everything for God has begun now. Nothing had really begun in the Old Testament times; Christ came in as the crown of promises, and the Jews were put to the test by Him and failed to answer to it, and all that order of things after the flesh was broken up; but Christ was the beginning. It is said in Colossians 1, “Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre-eminence”. We have come to the beginning, and in that sense to the church, and the church has a very important place as connected with the beginning. It is the vessel of testimony, for every part of the testimony is in some sense deposited in the church. It is our privilege, properly speaking, to know Christ effectively by the Spirit in every light. It is in that point of view that I read the passages before us. The witness to God’s Son is that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The saints, or the church, are looked upon as an efficient witness. The witness is there. It is the witness which God has witnessed concerning His Son. That is the value of it; it is not concerning us — God gives no witness concerning us — but concerning His Son. So in the passage I read in Ephesians 3. The prayer has reference to what is very vast, that is, every family in heaven and upon earth. It presents a vast scene; but the point of the prayer is that the Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, that the [p. 92] church may be competent as a witness, “That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God”. This is connected with the glory of God, and every family in heaven and on earth; and if you know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, it is evident you are filled unto all the fulness of God; you are competent as a witness. We have the idea of the church being the vessel of witness down here, and competent to that end. Then I read the passage in Revelation, for there we get not simply the witness in a moral sense, which is the character of the witness at the present time, but another thing, that is, the display. The bride is shown by the angel to John, and he records the vision, and we see what comes out in the bride, the Lamb’s wife. The city comes out in heavenly light. It has no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. God does not need to be screened in a temple and they have no need of the light of the sun or of the moon, because “the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof”. “And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it”; we see there the connection between the heavens and the earth. The universe of God which God purposes to display comprehends not only earth but heaven. As we read in the prayer in Ephesians, “Every family in heaven and upon earth”. I say that much before I come to what is more immediately before me. I take up the light in which Christ is known in the church, because the epistles present to us the way in which Christ is so known. Last time I was dwelling on the gospels, where we have Christ personally on earth, and see everything secured in Him. Now in [p. 93] the epistles we are on the ground of the Spirit; it is no longer Christ upon earth, but at the right hand of God, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things”. And in connection with the Spirit there is the competent vessel of testimony here upon earth, so that it should be true that “this is the witness which God has given concerning his Son”. I hope that every one will apprehend the difference of the ground on which we are from that on which we have been before. Evidently the presence and continuance of the Spirit must make a vast difference. In connection with the presence of the Spirit is the equally important fact, that is, Christ at the right hand of God. The apostle says to the Colossians, “Set your mind on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God”. I think we ought to be as diligent to pay regard to the right hand of God as ever Daniel was to regard Jerusalem. He prayed and gave thanks three times a day, his windows being open in his chamber towards Jerusalem. Well, evidently, we ought to regard the right hand of God; the right hand of God is really where our Jerusalem is.
Now I touch shortly on what has been before us. In regard to the tabernacle of testimony, I pointed out that before the detail of the tabernacle is given we get the detail of the furniture. Where the furniture was to be deposited, that is, the tent of testimony, was important; but what was of primary importance was the furniture of the tabernacle. The habitation of that furniture might be changed and was changed, for eventually the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat found their place in the temple that Solomon built; they found a different location, but for the moment they were placed in the tabernacle. That is what I look upon as being the central point in the communications [p. 94] to Moses; it indicated what was before God, that is, that God had before Him a way by which He would dwell in the universe, in order that He might fill it with light and life and blessing. The central point in the historical books is the history of David. He was God’s anointed, God’s king, and in a sense God’s testimony; I only just touch on that in order to complete the review. David was imperfect, like a man after the flesh, and he came into a great position, where he was almost — except for the word of God — an absolute king. The consequence is that very often, in David, we find the testimony obscured; but still, the testimony shone out in David, and there is no moment more important than that when David brought the ark to the city of David. God’s testimony is the spirit of the historical books. In speaking of the Psalms, which are largely by the sweet Psalmist of Israel, David, I sought to make plain that we get a complete testimony of Christ as having in the first instance come out from God to reveal God, and to accomplish the will of God, then going to the right hand of God, and eventually returning to be received here upon earth; that is found in the Psalms. Then one word in regard to the prophets, that is, the statement in the Revelation, that the testimony of Jesus (that is, “Jehovah saving”) is the Spirit of prophecy. The prophets look on to Jehovah coming in for the salvation of His people, and not only that, but that the dwelling of God may be established in Zion. “Jehovah in the midst of thee is mighty”.
Last time I touched on the gospels. We looked at the Gospel of John as the presentation, so to speak, of Christ as the true ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. In Matthew we have the King in a sense, according to the prophet Isaiah, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
[p. 95] and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. At the same time He is Immanuel, God with us. What comes to pass is not the establishment of the King in Zion, but the establishment of the kingdom of heaven, and the first to come into the kingdom was a remnant of the Jews; God did not disregard His people. In a certain sense the Jews had Christ within their power for a moment; they said, “This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours”; but then God raised Him from the dead. It became the crucial moment to Israel; but God took care of a remnant, and that remnant was the first to be brought into the kingdom of heaven. The keys of the kingdom were entrusted to Peter; and in the Acts we find a remnant brought in before ever the word went out to the Gentiles.
Now as to the epistles. I do not need to dwell very much on the Acts of the Apostles, because it is a book of transition beginning with the receiving up of Christ and closing with the testimony of God at Rome. It gives us what one may call the movement of the testimony, as the ark of the covenant was carried about from place to place. We get some account of what was preached; the testimony began at Jerusalem, then it went down to Antioch, then it was carried out to the Gentiles, and eventually reached Rome.
I trust I may be helped now in giving you an idea of what comes out in the epistles. I go back for a moment to the thought of the tabernacle. A tabernacle is not an abiding thing. A tabernacle can be taken down. Whenever the children of Israel had to journey, the tabernacle of the testimony had to be taken down and carefully carried; but a change was to come; the tabernacle was [p. 96] brought into the land. It first went to Shiloh, but God rejected Shiloh. Ephraim, the leading tribe, broke down; this is a very important point in connection with the ways of God. But God chose Judah and David and Mount Zion, and the point with David was to bring the ark of the covenant to Mount Zion; then David desired to build a permanent habitation for the ark of Jehovah. We find the expression of that in Psalm 132. David was not allowed to build a habitation because he had been a man of war; but David’s son was to build a house for Jehovah. No longer a tabernacle, which can be taken down, but a temple of costly stones, a permanent abode for Jehovah, God of Israel. It was built, there was the change from a tabernacle to a temple. When the Lord Jesus was here He tabernacled with men; but the tabernacle might be taken down, and it was, and gave place, even in Christ Himself, to the thought of the temple. When Christ was here we get for the first time the true temple; what had been previously had been figurative. It had been owned as the temple in a way, but was not the real temple. There was nothing moral in the temple which Solomon built, and a temple in which there is nothing moral cannot really contain God. A church or cathedral may be a very imposing structure in the eyes of man, but it can be nothing whatever to God. What God looked for, I have no doubt, even in connection with the temple, was that there should be the moral element. When the Lord came here in John 2, He cleansed the temple, for He owned it; but He said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up”. He spoke of the temple of His body. We have not a tabernacle but a temple. Now there is another point in connection with this — Christ was the true Son of David. Solomon was the Son of David after the flesh, but the true Son [p. 97] of David who was to build God’s house was Christ, and what Christ built was not a temple of stones such as Solomon built; He built a temple of living stones. The material was prepared while Christ was here, and when the day of Pentecost arrived, the Spirit descended and there was the formation of the temple of God. The temple in that sense was constructed by Christ, it was really the temple of God; and if so, you can understand that the furniture which was found in the tabernacle has its anti-type in the temple which Christ has built. It is the depository of the testimony of God, but very different from anything which went before. The tabernacle had been the depository of God’s testimony. When Christ was here everything was in Him. There could not possibly be anything outside Him. What could have been the value of the material temple when Christ was here? Now He has built the temple, and God is dwelling here by the Spirit. “In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit”. Now we have the testimony of God established in a living temple, and that is what marks this present moment off from any which went before it. Of course the moment when the Lord Jesus was here upon earth was a very peculiar moment; but the present is a continuous time, not a brief moment as the presence of Christ upon earth, and what marks it is that the temple of God is here, and the temple is the depository of the testimony of God. Every stone of the temple ought to be instinct with intelligence, because all are living stones. “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ”. I am justified in saying that every stone [p. 98] ought to be instinct with life. I do not understand life apart from intelligence. The idea of life is not exactly as in a babe; there is life in a babe, but the idea of life is properly connected with a man, where all the faculties are developed. That is what I understand by the apostle’s prayer in Ephesians 3. “That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to apprehend”. Evidently the idea in that is intelligence, and then, that you may know “the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God”.
Now I touch for a moment very shortly on the light in which Christ is presented to us in the epistles. The Holy Ghost has come down to report the glory of Christ, and the apostles present to us what Christ is now as at the right hand of God. But the light in which Christ is presented in every epistle has reference to things which are to be displayed, and not simply reference to the present time. Thus we know Christ in every light, and are affected by every light in which Christ is presented. There is no light in which Christ is presented in any epistle which is not intended to have its moral effect on us. It is part of our education, so that we may be growing in the testimony, that the testimony may not be obscured. I do not doubt that in a sense David was God’s testimony, but in him the testimony was often obscured.
I take up the epistles a little in detail. They may be divided into two parts. There are those which present Christ in regard to existing things, and there are others which present Christ in relation to all that is coming. It is an important division. The epistles which I touch on first are those to the Thessalonians; they present Christ in relation to existing things. They are elementary. They were written to Christians who had recently been converted. On the one hand Christ appears as Saviour,
[p. 99] and on the other in glory, executing judgment. As we find in other parts of scripture He will appear a second time to those who look for Him without sin unto salvation, He gathers up the harvest in the first epistle. In the second He appears in order to execute judgment, to tread the winepress. That has hardly to do with the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat, with the system of things which God intends to establish; you can easily see the difference that exists between Christ viewed in relation to the existing state of things upon earth, and to the “all things” that are in the purpose of God. Christ will come in power and glory to deal with everything here, God will not entrust that to anybody else: but to view Christ in that light is one thing, to view Him in relation to the “all things” which God is going to display is another thing. But in regard to what I have said, the truth has its bearing as to us. We are waiting for God’s Son from heaven to deliver us from the coming wrath. The coming of the Lord means heaven to those who are now waiting for Him. So too in regard to His appearing in glory, we have our part in that too, He is going to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all those that believe. But Christ is presented in these epistles either as Saviour to reap the harvest, or, on the other hand, to tread “the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God”.
Now I touch for a moment on the Epistles of Corinthians. There we get an advance. In the first epistle Christ is seen as the wisdom and the power of God, on the one hand to bring to naught every spiritual influence by which man was dominated, and on the other to establish that which is of God. Therefore the first Epistle to the Corinthians is an immensely important epistle, for in it we see the establishment of the temple of God,
[p. 100] where the oracles are, and the body of Christ as that by which, through gift, the light is diffused; that is what Christ establishes. I quote two statements in the epistle. The apostle says, “Ye are the temple of God”. Then in chapter 12 he says, “Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular”. We have thus Christ presented in connection with all things, with what is going to be displayed, and hence the epistle goes on to the resurrection and the last Adam, and tells us how death is to be swallowed up in victory. In the second epistle Christ is seen as the Yea and Amen of the promises of God. Evidently the promises of God refer to what God is going to display. God is to be glorified in regard to His promises. This has its bearing on us, the promises are for glory to God by us. We can enter into the promises in a different way from Abraham, because we are in the light of the new covenant. We know what the disposition of God is toward man in Christ.
I pass on to Galatians; there again Christ is presented in regard to what God is going to display. He is the true Isaac, the seed of Abraham, for the blessing of the Gentiles. “In thee shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”. The promise which was made to Abraham and confirmed to his seed will be fulfilled in the coming day; but what has come to pass now is that the blessing of Abraham has come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit by faith. If we have received the Spirit, it is a proof that the blessing of Abraham has come to the Gentiles already. But then it has strictly to be fulfilled, “in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed”. These epistles have to do with Christ as establishing the promises of God.
Now I pass on to another class of epistles which present to us much more what God has ever purposed [p. 101] to establish. In that connection I take up Romans. Romans is extremely important, and in connection with Romans I touch on Hebrews; in both I have no doubt we get the true ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. We see the One in whom God vindicates Himself in regard to His righteousness and faithfulness — that is the great subject of the Epistle to the Romans, God declares in Christ His righteousness and faithfulness, so that on the one hand He may be glorified in regard of all His dealings with man, and on the other hand His faithfulness be vindicated in the fulfilment of the promises. We get another point in Romans too, that Christ is at the right hand of God. He came out as Apostle in order that the righteousness and faithfulness of God might be declared. He is the mercy seat in whom God addresses Himself to man, but He is also the Priest who has accomplished redemption and is at the right hand of God to make intercession for us. The same comes out in a marked way in the Epistle to the Hebrews. He has come out as Apostle that God might approach man, and He has gone in as Priest. He has sat down, when His work of offering was finished, for ever at the right hand of God. I take up the first Epistle of John, as I think it is on the same line; there we have Christ as the true God and eternal life. All these thoughts refer strictly to the day of display; the Priest at the right hand of God refers to the future; He is seated there until His foes are made His footstool. So too in John the true God and eternal life must have reference to the coming age. When Jesus spoke of eternal life He spoke of it as connected with the coming age. His being the true God and eternal life must refer to the time of display. The point before God, which God has made known from the beginning, is His purpose to dwell in the universe in order that man may be [p. 102] blessed and brought into the enjoyment of life. John presents Christ as the true God and eternal life, and that has its bearing now in regard of us. “He that hath the Son hath life”. We anticipate that which is to come.
I take up three other epistles for a moment, Colossians, Ephesians and Philippians. I was saying on one occasion that in connection with the tent of testimony there were two great thoughts. In the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat we get the idea of God’s approach to man. Until redemption was accomplished God could not fully approach man, but the idea of approaching man was hid in the ark of the covenant and the mercy seat. But in connection with the tabernacle was another important point, there was the idea of man approaching God. The way into the holiest was not yet manifest, but at all events there was the idea of man approaching God. Once a year the high priest went into the holiest of all, and the sons of Aaron had their part in the ministry of the tabernacle. That presents the idea of man going in.
In Colossians Christ has gone in as Head, is seated at the right hand of God. We are risen with Him and are to set our minds on things above. Romans carries Him to the right hand of God, but Colossians sees Him sitting at the right hand of God. The great High Priest has gone in, and we are associated with Him as Aaron’s sons were with Aaron.
In Philippians we get a kindred thought, Christ descended to the shame and reproach of the cross here, but He is highly exalted. The thought of the apostle was to reach Christ where He was. “I press toward the mark for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”.
In Ephesians we have a further thought, that is, Christ has ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. He is the great Priest who [p. 103] descended into the lower parts of the earth in order to complete redemption, and redemption being completed, He has ascended far above all heavens, that He might fill all things; I take it in a priestly way, as Melchisedec blessed Abraham, so Christ will come out as Priest in the ministration of blessing; we are quickened together with Him, raised up and made to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I only just touch on the other epistles.
In Peter we have Christ as the Living Stone. Then we get the present bearing of that. So it will have its bearing in regard to the future: “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded”. Everything will turn on Christ, who is the Living Stone. In the meantime we come to Him and as living stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood. No one can gainsay that the fact of Christ having been planted as chief corner stone in Zion, although a stone of stumbling to the Jews for the time being, involves the establishment of everything in the time to come. In the second epistle of Peter He is the day star in the heart. That means the confirmation of all the word of prophecy. The day star is the harbinger of the Sun of righteousness, who will rise with healing in His wings. What the apostle presses in that epistle is that the vision that they had seen on the mount of transfiguration was the confirmation to them of the truth of the kingdom. “We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. All refers to the time of display, but has its bearing on us, for the day has dawned, and the day star has arisen in our hearts. We get another thought in the epistle of James, which is the only other epistle I touch on. We have Christ presented to us there as the Lord of glory;
[p. 104] the Lord of glory evidently refers to the day of display, and if you have the faith of the Lord of glory you must have done with respect of persons. There will not be very much respect of persons when the Lord of glory is displayed. Men will be reckoned up not according to their fleshly position, but according to what they are morally. God does not look at the outward appearance but at the heart.
There is no light in which Christ is presented to us in any epistle which has not its present bearing upon us. Although the church is the temple of God one cannot say that the temple is yet perfect, the “whole building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord”; then you get perfection. Then it will be that every stone will be instinct with intelligence. That brings us to the close of Revelation, to the character of the heavenly city; there is no temple there, the Lord God is the temple and the Lamb is the light thereof. It is the dwelling-place of God and the seat of His throne. Every part of the city is radiant with light and intelligence. The testimony of Scripture begins morally with the ark of the covenant, the foreshadowing of God dwelling in the universe in order that He might bring in life and blessing. Scripture ends with the holy city coming down from God out of heaven having the glory of God and her light like unto a stone most precious.
The testimony of Christ is that which binds all Scripture together, and is the most unanswerable witness against every possible attack on it. How could you have the testimony of the Christ pervading every part of a book written by divers people, at divers times, and under diverse circumstances, except as the work of God!
May God be pleased to strengthen us with might in the inner man that we may have the Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith.